Thirty-two years on and the Wembley night when Poland eliminated England from the World Cup with a 1-1 draw is still the most frequently talked about match in the land between the Baltic Sea and the Tatry Mountains, while Jan Tomaszewski remains the nation's best-known footballer and has long since come to accept that conversations with him will inevitably lead to his 1973 goalkeeping heroics.

Wednesday's game at Old Trafford was shaping up to be another monumental occasion before Holland's victory over the Czech Republic yesterday handed both countries their passage to Germany. Nevertheless, with little more than pride at stake in Manchester, Tomaszewski is still passionate about Poland's chances.

'England did well to win [against Austria] considering how badly the team played,' he says. 'It was a very poor performance and a huge disappointment for anyone with an affection for English football, in what is becoming a worrying series of let-downs. For me, this wasn't England at all, but an Eriksson XI.

'England has three of the best midfielders in world football in Beckham, Lampard and Gerrard, yet they are all repeatedly performing well below par for the national side,' he adds. 'The team has the players to win the World Cup, so in my opinion the fault must lie elsewhere and I would put the blame down to the coach.

'With Eriksson, England have no chance to win the World Cup and, even if they beat Poland and get first place in the group, he should not remain in the post.'

David Beckham misses the game with the Poles after his sending-off yesterday and Tomaszewski is disappointed the England captain will be absent. 'The red card shown to Beckham was beyond belief,' he says. 'It was almost scandalous. It would have been clear to anyone watching the match that he essentially received two yellow cards for nothing.

'If I did not know better, I would say that the referee must have come from Barcelona and had something against players from Real Madrid, because there was no other obvious explanation for the decisions. The whole match came down to a series of refereeing errors and there has to be a question mark over whether this referee should ever officiate again at international level after a performance like that.'

Turning to his own encounter with England under the Wembley floodlights in 1973, a wry smile crosses Tomaszewski's face which suggests he still cannot quite believe how it turned out: 'It is something fantastic that it is remembered and discussed after more than 30 years have passed. It seems to have ensured our place in the history of football and those of us who took part will not now be forgotten even after we are no longer here.'

Tomaszewski freely admits: 'The irony is that it was by no means my best match. I built on the experience and developed into a better keeper subsequently. I'm actually most proud of the following year, becoming the first player to save two penalties at the World Cup finals. Wembley was in fact the luckiest match of my career. But if it had not been for Wembley then I don't think I would have made a similar impact.'

England went into the match on the back of a 7-0 victory over Austria at Wembley, a scoreline Tomaszewski says was playing on his mind. 'I can still recall the fear I felt at first coming out into the cacophony and particularly when listening to the national anthems. I turned to praying that we would not be humiliated 7-0. I offered God 10 years off my life in return for simply avoiding being embarrassed!

'It took less than two minutes for me to make my first mistake when I did not see Allan Clarke's challenge and only just reacted in time to a white blur in the corner of my eye to dive on the ball before he reached it.

'The kick I received numbed my arm for the rest of the night, but my team-mates reckoned that it was a good thing as it scared me so much that my alertness was heightened thereafter.

'When it came to Clarke's penalty, I could not believe how professionally he took it, despite the pressure of England being a goal down deep into the second half and all their fading hopes resting on him.

'But I can also still see the look of disbelief that he gave me when I turned a late close-range volley of his round for a corner. He thought he had scored the winning goal that would take England through to the finals, and in truth I did not see the ball as I dived to the left to make the save. I just felt it hit me fortuitously, before looking up to see him bent over with his hands on his knees in despair.'

The amiable Tomaszewski is even magnanimous about Brian Clough, the man who described him as a 'clown' in 1973, something that the big goalkeeper acknowledges was not wholly inaccurate.

'Brian Clough was actually not wrong,' he says. 'Poland had a moderate team with some players of potential, but very raw still and substantially inferior to England. In particular, I had without doubt yet to fully develop as an international keeper.

'We met many years later on an awards panel and got on very well, becoming good friends.

'I admired him greatly as one of the best coaches in the world and in fact expected him to become England manager as a result of my efforts in eliminating England from the World Cup that contributed to Sir Alf Ramsey leaving his job.'

Tomaszewski remains sad at Clough's passing away 13 months ago, when he sent condolences to the bereaved family. In a neat twist, the 57-year-old will be at Old Trafford on Wednesday in his main role nowadays of a television panellist, the art that was pioneered by Clough. Indeed, little do Polish viewers realise who their hero is emulating with his relish for controversy and fearlessness when there is a need to criticise.